


Returning from the Summoners' Sanctum

by WishStone



Category: Final Fantasy X
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 09:19:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6148858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishStone/pseuds/WishStone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the battle at the Summoner's Sanctum, Bahamut is sought out by Valefor, Shiva and Ifrit in the Farplane. The plan to end the circle has been centuries in the making, but some of the Fayth are starting to doubt the morality of their actions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Returning from the Summoners' Sanctum

* * *

The hooded boy stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the eternal waterfall. Several of his companions had been called to Spira at once, not something that happened all too often. That he had not been called upon did not surprise him. Few summoners were powerful or determined enough to actually bond with him, and of those even fewer truly needed his powers.

He loved the Farplane. And he hated it.

Even the most beautiful of sights would grow stale after a few decades. And while the spirits of the Send kept them company, the Fayth did not often mix with them. No one remembered their true names. No one would come to speak to them now. The platform high above them, where sometimes visitors from Spira came to see them would never again bring his friends or family.

He heard the mournful whispers of disturbed pyreflies behind him before he heard the steps approaching.

"I do not like this, Bahamut." The girls voice echoed sadly in the beautiful void that was the Farplane. There is no wind here. Nothing to help or hinder carrying a voice. Just the clean, pure tones of another being speaking. "We just saw _him_. And he learned part of the truth today."

He shifted slightly, keeping his gaze towards the waterfall. Few came to see him these days, even among the Fayth. In Spira, he was known to them as the one who would not hesitate to break any Summoner who stood before him with idle pride, unbecoming attitudes or even fears and doubts. He knew his power, his might, and he had honed it finely over the centuries. No, he was not called for often. And these who could call for him, did not often do so for a mere few fiends.

He stood still, looking into the vastness before him. "He is, much like us, only a dream." The boy of a thousand years stood with his legs anchored to the ground at shoulder width; his arms crossed, looking out over the eternal waterfall. "A dream fashioned by the Eternal Summoning. And in his case... in his case even a dream forged by us of the Fayth personally. It is his duty."

The girl stood quietly behind the hooded youth for a little while, running her hands over her arms as if she felt a chill. "He was crying, you know? He was crying and he is hurting. He stood before me, throwing helpless punches against me... screaming, yelling at us... Cursing us." Valefor stepped up behind her friend. Pyreflies whispered their sad and eerie calls around them, disturbed by her footfall. Few walked the Farplane this low, and most of these who did were either Fiends or Fayth of considerable might. "I'm really not sure we have the right."

"Valefor, we talked about this."

"I never thought it would be like _this_. You never said it would be this hard." She choked back a sob. "I tried to comfort him. Tried to hug him..."

Bahamut squared his shoulders. He sounded part sulking boy, part centuries old warrior as he continued. "One thousand years, Valefor. I am tired. I want to- no, I MUST rest."

Strange. How the centuries can change someone so much. He had turned into a Fayth for his immense heroic sacrifice. His dream - that of the Dragon King - had brought much devastation and made him one of the most powerful of his kind. But even after all this time, sometimes he sounded like a child.

The girl shed a quiet tear and hugged herself. "So am I. So are all of us. But you weren't there, Bahamut. I am not sure anymore we should have done this. And as much as he is hurting -" Bahamut started to speak and she spoke over him. "NO, I do not care what he is, he IS hurting... and so will she, later. Once we sleep, he will be gone." She looked to the ground, the eternal peacefulness of the flowers somehow worsening how she felt. "What is happening between them was as we had hoped, but I had not thought of the after." She wrung her hands at her old friend. "We could break her with this, Bahamut. She is my friend, I have watched over her for so long now..."

The boy slumped a bit and turned to look over his shoulder. "I would meet her, soon. You speak of the Lady Summoner as if she is a fragile thing." His eyes blazed for a moment, then reflected Valefor's sorrow as she shook his head. "She must not be, she needs to be hard and unwavering." The girl said nothing, so the boy continued. "You do remember whom I fashioned both him and his father after. It was their story that inspired me in all of this. And when Braska had a daughter... it was too perfect. After one thousand years, it was just too perfect. And this is why I know it will work. THIS is why I know we're right in doing this." He stared unseeing into the distance. "I just did not expect the Lady Summoner to be frail. Not after everything we did. It just cannot be a failure. It must not be that she is frail. I need her as that proud warrior. Lenne..."

The sound of startled Pyreflies hummed around them. A low, proud voice said: "But she can be both."

Bahamut and Valefor turned to watch The Summoner and The Guardian approach. Bahamuth eyed the man. "How do you mean, Ifrit?" Never had it been recorded or even stated, but most knew that there was a bond between the hulking warrior and the fine lady. Both had been honoured to be Fayth for their sacrifice though few knew just how much hardship their sacrifice was. And only here were they able to walk together, discreetly, now and again. Seeing them usually made his friend the Dragon Lord smile, though he did not understand the romantic notions involved. Bahamut had never loved.

Ifrit hunched a moment, playing with the muscles in his shoulders before answering. Even now he stood close to the former summoner, in death united as they never were in life. "Valefor knows the Lady Summoner longer than any of us and in a more intimate fashion. She may be saying the truth about the matter when she says the Lady Summoner appears frail. But it is not what I have seen, what I have experienced with her. When I met her, she had just defeated a skilled fiend, defended her friends and guarded the lands; passed through the heat of my cloister and went straight to me regardless. Her prayer was frantic at first, but after we sang for some time, all I felt was a burning desire to correct the wrong that lies over Spira." He flexed his big hands and smirked. "She is a warrior, deep inside. Her prayers show her to have much to bring to her journey. Even when she is doubtful, she still marches on." His smile became a proud and almost evil smirk. "And when she calls for me, I can often sense a desire to bring an end to whomever I face. It is quite an experience."

The long-turned-Fayth of the female gave her companion a fond smile and nodded."When I spoke to the Lady Summoner, she felt shaken, almost uprooted from what she was. Something is happening to her, I am certain of it." She touched Ifrit's shoulder and almost instantly the hunch vanished and was replaced with a proudly squared stance. She looked back to the hooded boy and went on: "Whenever I hear her call, what I feel most is her concern. She would die before she let anything happen to her guardians... and knows that her guardians would all die before they would allow this. But there is more. Twice now I was called by her when the boy was wounded badly. And I could feel her attention shift."

She heard the sneer in the Dragon King's voice. "Unfocused?"

She shook her head and it seemed as if she reached for Ifrit's hand unknowing. "No. It's not that. It is something deeper. More than once she had produced amazing feats of strength, just because she felt him near. That is something no training in this life could have given her. Even should she fail, even should she use him in another way - she could be as powerful as her namesake."

Valefor gasped quietly. "Yunalesca... Yes. She might make him her Final Aeon. He might even be powerful enough to be a Fayth himself - Oh! Or she might be! But, wait. Can he be an Aeon? Do you have to be human for the transition?"

The Boy-Fayth frowned at his fellows for a moment. He did not at all seem pleased with the thought of having the girl follow down that path. He closed his eyes, then turned around again and watched the endless waterfall. "You say she is changing. But does she change for the good of this cause? Creating Jecht, calling forth Tidus... It took years of careful execution of plans. So much could have gone wrong; so much still can. Influencing her father alone was the work of years. And when he had a daughter, it seemed like it would all work out. Until now."

The lady Shiva smiled. "I always found it telling, that you would be so powerful, Bahamut." He just grunted at her compliment. "Yes, much may go wrong, but they will see it through. He will understand and she will do what is right. He because, well, he is what we fashioned him to be before we tore him from the Eternal Summoning. And she because of who she is."

The boy simply answered: "Valefor has doubts."

The others turned to the girl, who gave them a sad nod. "Ifrit, you where there. You were _there_. You saw how the boy ran at me, tried to hit me... you saw him break down and cry, right there. Do we have the right to do this?"

Shiva walked to the Fayth of the once bright, happy girl and hugged her softly. "We have the right. We made him."

Valefor finally allowed herself to surrender to her nature and cried softly. She murmured against the embrace "But we did not make him feel. Maybe we did make him; maybe Bahamut has the right in this, since it is his dream. But the boy feels. He became more. I think he hurts. And he does. He _does_..."

Shiva gave Ifrit a pained look, stroking the head of the girl. The Guardian stood hunched forward again, frowning. He turned to look at the Dragon King, but the boy was no longer looking at them.

"I will decide on what to do next once she comes to meet me." He reached up and tucked his hood forward. ' _And when she comes, I will either bond with her, or kill her._ '

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a one-off in late 2009 and never really thought about publishing it till last year over on FFN. 
> 
> I've been pondering about a retelling of FFX from the eyes of the Fayth, but IF I ever get around to writing that, it'll be after Distance Formula ends., Which... will be a while(TM).


End file.
